Friday, May 24, 2013

Five Point Someone

FIVE POINT SOMEONE

Chetan Bhagat

Cover of latest edition

My choice of book
for this review will certainly raise a few eyebrows; and those raised eyebrows
being just a 'few' is only reflective of the emerging trend in the readers'
fraternity where unconventional writing is getting wide acclaim. Chetan Bhagat
- the quintessentially smart IITian that he is - has recognized this
inclination of the readers and has gone on to write not one, not two - but four
books(add to that several newspaper columns and a collection of essays), all of
which have been catchy, engrossing, unconventional, not unnecessarily
descriptive, and unrepetitive in terms of the ideas. For the purpose of this
blog, let's pick one of his books -
'Five Point Someone' - and analyze what has been so good about this(as
also the rest of his books).

Movie based on the book

Who doesn't want to
know about the life in IIT? Be it a
starry-eyed IIT aspirant who is going
through the drills of preparing for JEE or an ambitious parent who wants to see
his child secure a seat there, or an awestruck sixth-grader who has just heard
the three-letter-abbreviation for the first time and has immediately started
comparing it to Hogwarts - IIT is
such a magical place for everyone who has not been here(barring a few, it
remains as magical for most even once they are here). The first thing a father
would point out to his son, while reading an interview of Mr. Nandan Nilekani
in the morning newspaper would most certainly be, "Look, he's an IITian!" Hence, voluntarily or
otherwise, part of it or not - IIT
has become deeply entrenched in the typical Indian's life. And it evoking
curiosity about what happens within its hallowed gates is the obvious and
concomitant next step. While, whether anyone wrote about it before CB did or
whether IITians are too nerdy/shy to
write or whether there's enough interesting stuff going on in the IITs to write about, and several similar
questions can be pondered over, the fact of the matter is that Chetan Bhagat's
description of the life in IIT was
the first and the only thus far to have been adequately noticed, and rightly
so. He has kept from being overawed by the eloquent writing styles of the past
and contemporary greats in the field of Literature and trying to step into
their big boots, and has preferred to be very original, very natural and yet
damn interesting.

Coming to the plot,
it's fairly simple - and perhaps that's what its USP is. The story begins with
the protagonist, Hari - the average-looking, nerdy bumbler - entering IIT and
immediately getting a taste of the-then-rightly-hyped menace of ragging. It's
while bending in those awkward postures on the seniors' demands that he gets to
meet his two dearest friends doing the same - Alok and Ryan, both in the same
branch as his. Alok was the typical whining topper-in-school, who'd sob all day
long if he stood second in class by a mark. He was from a family of meagre
means and viewed his mechanical engineering degree as nothing but a source to
pay for his elder sister's dowry and ailing father’s medicine. Ryan, on the
other hand, was the uber-cool, smart kid who'd do whatever he wanted to and
wouldn’t buckle under any pressure. He belonged to a well-off family and his
parents were stationed abroad.

While endless
assignments, frequent quizzes and relentless ragging were stitching a web
around him which would make him lead the typical life of drudgery for the next
four years, Hari suddenly bumps into(into her car, literally) Neha - yes, a
girl(in IIT!) - and his life takes off from there like a rocket. Just to spice
things up a bit though, she happens to be the (needless to mention, ten
thousand times as beautiful) daughter of Prof. Cherian(his second name), the
head of the Mechanical Engineering Department. Nevertheless, Cupid begins to be
kind to Hari, and he quickly improvises from going on his first date to his
first kiss and to more! His lifeless life seems to have got a sudden shot of vigour as he audaciously
takes the professor's gorgeous daughter out for movies, gets her drunk on
desolate terraces and breaks into her house and gifts her a self-made bouquet
right in her bed for her birthday - all this, right under the professor's nose.

But as they say,
greed for too much is always bad; and our protagonist learns the same the hard
way. Having dated the prof’s daughter for three years, he thought that the time
was ripe to get personally introduced by Neha to him. But his crappy grades
meant a bad impression at first sight - something which Hari thought he just
couldn't afford. Coinicidentally, Prof. Cherian got to take a course of his in
his final year, and scoring a perfect ten in it would seal the deal he thought.
He went all right about his ambition for quite a while by working his ass off
to do well in it. However when his Majors(final exams) approached, he began to
feel the heat and his mind overflew with the 'what-ifs'. After serious
deliberations on what to do with his two
close confidantés, he decided that the only certain way to fetch him a perfect
ten was to lay his hands on the Majors paper, before he was to see it
officially. They decided on a date when they would break into Prof. Cherian's
office, steal the paper and chalked out the exact plan of action to be
followed. Neha was not to be made privy to the plan.

Do i need to say ??

On what was
supposed to be the most adventurous day of the lives of all three of them,
Hari, as per plan, went to meet Neha at her home with the foreknowledge that
her parents wouldn't be around and the keys to Prof. Cherian's office would
hence be easier to get. However it was the same Cupid this time, who had lit
his life up not so long back, strangely playing spoilsport! While he was there
to procure the keys - just the keys, a lot more than what he had ever imagined,
transpired between him and Neha. They made out and brought their love to
fruition. But ironically, it was not to be for too long. Things started going
awry for Hari right then. Want to know whether they pull off the theft of the
exam paper eventually? Did the prof find out? Did Hari get to meet his
prospective father-in-law as an achiever? Hold your breath and go read the
book! It'll surely be a thrill-a-minute-read. Plus it's not too long(270 odd pages)
and easily affordable(95 bucks; on another day you may have a burger worth as
much. Just that you'll find the book more delectable.) - another
reach-out-to-the-common-Indian strategy of Chetan Bhagat, you see!

If you've been used
to reading high brow literature with flowery words and never-ending sentences,
this book would certainly be a refreshing change for you